Category: Science

It’s unlikely that solar flares will ever kill us. That may be an odd way to begin an “Ends of the World” post, but it’s true: so long as the Earth’s magnetosphere remains stable, we’re fine. Then again, that’s the catch, isn’t it?

The first humans to travel to Mars returned Friday after an 18-month voyage. Of course, it was all just pretend. For 520 days, astronauts in Moscow took part in an experiment to study how a mission to the red planet would affect human physiology and mental well-being. They spent the “trip” completely isolated from the …

In five days, what has been called a “benevolent monster” will turn to face Earth. A region of the sun containing “dozens of sunspots, including one that is the size of 17 Earths,” will, like the Death Star taking aim at the Rebel Alliance’s base at Yavin IV, slowly point toward our planet within the …

Asteroid 2005 YU55 will make an extraordinarily close flyby of Earth on November 8, 2011, passing right inside our moon’s orbit at a distance of only about 200,000 miles. The asteroid, which is roughly 1,300 feet wide (not much in comparison to the doom-maker 433 Eros, which is 8 miles, or 42,240 feet, wide), won’t impact …

There was a lot of excitement when research coming out of CERN suggested neutrinos could travel faster than the speed of light. The news was, of course, met with a lot of quirked eyebrows; you don’t just overthrow one of the greatest pillars of physics with a cloud of neutrinos and a difference of 64 …

Every month, when the full moon rises, we hear the stories: police departments receive strange phone calls, nurses have to deal with hyperactive patients. All the “crazies” come out, they say. Even the words lunacy and lunatic find their origins tied to the moon. But is there any truth to the madness caused by our …

Invisibility. Outside of flight, mind-control, and time-travel, it’s one of the most sought after super powers, and now University of Dallas researchers are one step closer to making it happen. Using heat and one-molecule-thick carbon nanotubes to bend light rays, they’ve been able to create a mirage-like effect that hides whatever lies behind them. The …